Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) is the new old queen of the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open. The Belarusian tennis player defeated the Olympics champion Qinwen Zheng (China) by 2-1 (6:3, 5:7, 6:3) in 2 hours and 40 minutes of playing time.
This is the 17th title in the career of Aryna Sabalenka and the third in a row at the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open, and with this success she has shortened the distance to Iga Swiatek (Poland) in the world ranking as much as possible and is currently only 69 points away from the Pole with a total asset of 9,716 points.
Already in the first minutes, the local favorite showed that this match will not be like the previous three, in which she conceded without winning a set in her account. The finalists offered us an equal battle in which both won their serves without any problems. In the sixth game, however, Qinwen Zheng showed some hesitation in her serves to open up the first opportunity for Aryna Sabalenka to take a break lead, which she made and clinched 4:2 lead and from there the 2-time champion had no difficulty on his way to winning the opening set.
The world’s number two continued to fly on the court and already in the third game of the second set she led with a break. However, the Chinese showed exceptional will and the huge support she was receiving at that moment motivated her even more and she managed to win 4 of the next 5 games in the match to open up the opportunity to serve for the set at 5:3. At that moment, there was a drop in the game of the Olympic champion and the top seed managed to level the games at 5:5. However, Qinwen Zheng mobilized at the right moment and regained the initiative to lead 6:5 after a scoreless service game, and subsequently the local favorite broke through to take the match into a decisive third set.
Aryna Sabalenka’s response was not long in coming and she got off to the best start in the decider as she broke ahead with a two-break lead to take a 3:0 lead. The world’s number seven managed to reduce her deficit to 2:3, but Aryna Sabalenka kept pouring in winners from every point on the court that took her to a 5:2 lead. The Chinese again returned one of her breaks behind and reflected a total of 3 match points, but logic prevailed and the title was won by the best tennis player on the planet at that moment.
Aryna Sabalenka makes another fantastic tournament after winning the US Open and the Australian open, as well as the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open.
